Monthly Archives: December 2018

Many people have the time of their lives at university. However, some recent stories have built up negative connotations for parents and students. For example, a video that went viral earlier this year recorded students at Nottingham Trent University in the UK chanting racist comments in front of the door of another student in their university accommodation (halls).

You might have seen this recent viral video that highlighted the negative, and potentially dangerous, side of residing in university accommodation. Thankfully, with the advancements in technology and the implementation of access control systems in university halls, Rufaro was physically safe from any threat. But now, expectations must be higher to ensure that this type of behaviour, or risk, does not happen again.

In this article, security experts 2020 Vision investigate how useful security mechanisms – like access control systems – are for protecting students.

What is an access control system?

Essentially, an access control system offers two big benefits when it comes to security. The first has a more basic yet effective approach and can enable or prevent someone from entering or exiting a location — this could range from the whole site, a wing of a building, or a singular room that needs protecting from unauthorised personnel.

The second benefit is that location movements can be tracked while a compliance audit can be completed. It can also detect any areas where improvements could be necessary.

In addition to key cards, ID tags can also be incorporated into the access to a university hall of residence. The purpose of having such security measures in place is to help protect students from unauthorised access, which could potentially threaten their wellbeing or put their possessions at risk.

With universities becoming ever-increasingly like businesses, and with the cost of entering university at an all-time high, the expectations are that student living standards and safety are paramount, especially with students – initially – having to live with strangers. According to a survey carried out by Save The Student, the average cost of renting is £131 per week, which leaves students with £8 to live on after deducting the payment from their maintenance loan.

Although university culture does play a large part on student life, excessive and unordinary behaviour is not acceptable. It was found that 52% of students have noisy housemates, 37% of housemates steal food (considered as theft), 8% have dangerous living conditions, and an astonishing 6% have experienced a break in or a burglary.

These stats highlight that there are many students who don’t view their accommodation as value for money. Now, there is a demand for larger investments into suffering areas — accommodation providers are under extreme amounts of pressure to make changes otherwise they could encounter detrimental damages that will impact them in the long run.

What are the benefits of access control?

There are many potential benefits to having a campus access control system. Evidently from the story above discussing the racist chants, it has become critical to ensure the safety and protection of young people as unsolicited actions can be carried out without any prior detection.

It’s true that some universities offer students the opportunity to choose their new living quarters with factors like gender, age and drinking preferences taken into consideration. However, there are still many faults. Universities should be looking at implementing more personal options that enable young people to properly filter down the type of roommates they are looking for — such as language, religion, race, and more to create a safer and more familiar environment for all.

Advanced Credentials — smart phones are now a part of daily life for students. Locked areas can now be accessed via security info/credentials stored safely on a phone.

The neutralisation of old Key Cards —university accommodation keys – unlike regular keys – cannot be copied. Once a student has left, each card can be deactivated. This removes the risk of any unauthorised entry and heightens the safety of the new tenant after the previous lease is up.

Access Limitation — an access control system means only eligible students can access the premises. As they require the swipe of a unique key card for entry permissions which are given only to students, this will make it difficult for anyone other those who are enrolled as residents to enter.

It’s clear that university accommodation should have enhanced security. This is even more pertinent if it can be used in a lockdown process that helps reduce the obvious risks that come with fast-moving incidents (i.e. firearm attacks).

The cast of our current schools’ tour is returning to the rehearsal room to prepare this year’s Shakespeare productions: Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet. These will both take to the road early in 2019, giving students the tangible advantage of live performance.

Each of our 90-minute adaptations is designed to be a great introduction to the text, or a useful revision tool. Watching one of the productions really helps your students understand the narrative arc of the text, and they will hear those all-important quotes in context. They see and hear the text rather than just reading it, and, of course, there’s the simple joy of live theatre.

Last year, praise for Macbeth included lovely comments such as this from Parmiter’s School:

“It was fantastic! So professional and carefully engineered to give the students what they need. The actors were really impressive—they held the audience for the entire performance.”

Although our diary is filling up, there’s still time to book an in-school performance from Fred Theatre for the current academic year. We are touring with four exciting productions:

Jekyll and Hyde A Christmas Carol

Macbeth Romeo and Juliet

Please note, Jekyll and Hyde is a 60-minute adaptation.

We are very cost-effective. Booking a performance from Fred Theatre is a whole lot cheaper than paying for theatre tickets + travel costs + the time of staff and helpers.

All four productions are fresh and exciting re-tellings of the familiar and much-loved stories, and feature a cast of six professional actors. We concentrate on the original text and producing a faithful representation of the original, just a little shorter.

All we need to perform at your school is a space approximately 5m x 5m with room (of course) for the audience.

And we don’t leave our involvement with just the performance. We send out regular newsletters for students that build up to the performance with lots of great information on the show. We give students feedback cards which can be used as a valuable tool in the classroom after the show. And, we also arrange workshops if that’s of interest, as well as Q and As with the cast post-performance.

You can call me to discuss any aspect of Fred Theatre playing at your school on 01789 777612. Alternatively, email Helen in our office: helen@fred-theatre.co.uk. We’ll have a chat about how we can help, collect a few details from you and respond with more information.